Digital Marketing funnels are like plumbing. You need them to survive and grow a business.
A digital marketing funnel strategy should be designed around your goals. You might want immediate sales or brand exposure to nurture long-term awareness. We discuss some fundamentals in creating a funnel that can work for you.
Table of Contents
โโ1. Marketing Funnel Strategy
The Digital Marketing Funnel strategy spells out the journey the prospect takes from their initial encounter with the companyโs brand throughout the education process until they arrive at the consideration stage of whether or not to purchase or engage with your brand. Think of the digital marketing funnel as a roadmap. Every stage, every piece of content, every message, every team memberโs effort, and every opportunity must contribute to the journey’s final destination; โa positive outcome.โ
Check for digital marketing funnel leaks: Action without planning spells failure. No strategy equals limited success at best.
We recommend: Starting slow. Choose the best persona type, build content and messaging around that prospect and begin testing and refinement. Make sure to check and revise your personas with data and insights to keep them precise and, up, to date.
2. Marketing Brand Awareness
Take an honest appraisal of the competition. Does your competitorโs content have a professional look and feel? Are they being innovative? What about their tone and voice? Where do they have a strong presence? Are they taking advantage of paid advertising? If your content or website design is stale, the prospect will automatically assume your products and services are as well.
Awareness Assets: Paid Advertising, including Google Ads and Social Media Ads: Blog posts, Infographics, Motion Graphics, E-Books, Landing Pages, Bite-sized Videos, SEO, or Guest Posts/Articles.
Check for digital marketing funnel leaks: If there are typos in your email drip campaign or are you keeping up with web design trends. If your design content looks like it was last updated in the early 2000s, donโt expect prospects to jump at the chance to engage in conversation with you. An engaging website or bottom funnel experience will communicate to the user that you care about their time.
We recommend: identifying and disseminating a brand awareness strategy that exposes the companyโs brand to its most ideal prospects.
Use Google Ads buy, leverage video and photography, become the industry expert through content creation, create a website thatโs the go-to place for relevant, trusted information, and place well in Google search results; do what it takes.
Furthermore make use of networking sites such, as Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn to craft posts and advertisements that connect with a wider range of people. Employ resources, like Facebook Insights and Instagram Analytics to evaluate the impact of your social media promotions.
3. Targeting for Digital Marketing
There are several moving parts in the targeting stage of the digital marketing funnel. Businesses must separate their prospects into groups based on their needs, interests, and desires. Next, align the messaging to those characteristics.
The last two parts of the targeting stage are the content type and the distribution vehicle. Will the prospect respond better to motion graphics, pictures, videos, or expert opinion pieces? Will the group show more interest in infographics, Google Ads, blog content, copywriting, podcasts, eBooks, product reviews, or competitor analysis? The final part of the targeting stage is the advertising method. Will Paid, Native, or Programmatic Advertising show the best results?
Paid Advertising guarantees your message reaches the right audience; itโs excellent for boosting your brand and creating more opportunities for conversions. Native Ads are great for brand awareness; they are subtle, customizable, conversion-driven, and hard to ignore. Native ads boost purchase intent by 18%.
Finally programmatic advertising can lower your advertising costs provide you with the flexibility to adjust ads in real-time support cross device campaigns, and is recognized for delivering a greater return, on investment.
Remember, the Marketing Rule of 7 says a prospect must hear the brandโs message seven times before theyโll contemplate the buying decision.
Check for digital marketing funnel leaks: Use limited Google Ad buys to gauge interest in your product or service solution.
We recommend: Enlisting your existing customer base to see if the new product or service piques interest. Create a nominal version of your latest idea – donโt go the full-feature route until youโre sure people have more than a negligible interest in what youโre offering.
Consider using retargeting advertisements, on Google and various social media platforms to reconnect with individuals who have engaged with your brand in the past who did not convert or make a purchase.
4. Marketing Analysis
Deploy every method possible to increase your brand awareness. Use Google Ads to gain branding traction. Create targeted content thatโs relevant to your audience’s discussions. The two awareness goals here are to listen and understand the problems theyโre trying to solve.
Second, provide content vehicles (blog posts, white papers, case studies, LinkedIn discussions) they regularly go to for information.
Do gap analysis or S.W.O.T. Analysis to identify the โunservedโ and โunderservedโ groups. When setting goals it’s important to consider the company,s mission statement, strategic business objectives and goals, for improvement.
Join in exchanges but donโt control the conversation.
Evaluation Assets: Social Proof, Discounts/Offers, White Papers, Case Studies, Google Ad buys, Email Drip Campaigns, Webinars, other Resources.
Check for digital marketing funnel leaks: Donโt assume you know what prospects want – research and do the due diligence.
We recommend: Taking a two-prong approach. First, do a competitive analysis of what the other guys are offering. Do they appear successful? Second, use your existing customer base. What if they donโt have an existing customer base? If you donโt have an existing customer base, start sharing about your business with everyone in your professional network. Work hard to understand the audience youโre targeting, offer value in every engagement, and continue refining the process until your efforts gain traction.
Utilize feedback tools, like surveys and social media polls to collect input, from your audience and adjust your strategies based on the responses received.
5. Marketing Engagement
People engage because they are somewhere along the consideration continuum. At this point, potential clients are somewhat familiar with your product or service and are beginning to ask: Does my problem need to be solved right now? Are these guys offering the best remedy? Is this solution a good fit for our company? Itโs important to remember that some prospects will be closer to making their final decision while others are still in the initial research stage. People need to be engaged wherever they are in the buying process.
Consideration Assets: Demos, Free Trials, Competitor Comparisons, White Papers, Case Studies, Webinars, and targeted ad buys – including Google Ads and Social Media Ads.
Check for digital marketing funnel leaks: Change your approach if engagement is not happening on the prospectโs side.
We recommend ensuring the engagement vehicle and language are appropriate for each persona. Utilize retargeting strategies, on Google and social platforms to jog the memory of customers about your products. Gently lead them through the buying process.
6. Measured Success
Your marketing metrics might be the number of leads, conversions, and ROI. Make sure the metrics are measurable. Marketing analytics tracks and analyzes marketing efforts data to reach a quantitative goal. Feelings cannot be measured; numbers can. A Key Performance Indicator (KPI) is a quantifiable measure of performance. Companies may easily have more than a dozen KPIs in play. Measurements such as Return on Investment (ROI), Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC), Return on Ad Spend (ROAS), or Lifetime Value of a Customer (LTV.) Create a list of KPIs that will spell success for your marketing efforts. Remember to watch a customerโs journey through Google Analytics or your preferred analytics platform.
Check for digital marketing funnel leaks: Closely monitor the analytics and insights.
We recommend: Rough-tuning your marketing funnel; then speed-tune it. Utilize sophisticated platforms such, as Google Looker Studio to craft dashboards that offer up to the minute information, on your marketing effectiveness.
7. Tune & Retool
No marketing campaign ever performs flawlessly, nor does it function well forever. The marketplace is dynamic and constantly in flux โ competition is coming and going, and new products and services are continually being introduced. Is it time to freshen the marketing content? Can the open or click-through rates be improved? All good questions to discuss from time to time. Marketing funnels are not static sales tools.
Check for digital marketing funnel leaks: Examine each funnel stage with a critical eye.
We recommend: Creating thresholds for each marketing funnel stage. When the numbers drop below those levels, take action. Create a schedule whereby wellness checks occur to ensure each step produces its best possible outcomes.
Make sure you stay in the loop with the developments, in marketing strategies and tools. Join webinars, explore industry blogs. Engage in courses to stay up, to date with your knowledge.
The Saleโs Never Over
Existing customers are 50% more likely to try new products and spend 31% more when compared to new customers. Donโt let your new customers become numbers on a monthly sales spreadsheet. Create Post-nurture Campaigns and develop after-the-sale content that short-circuits customer problems before they gain ground, fosters opportunities to upsell, and always be sure to announce new products and services to existing customers. These post-nurturing campaigns can retarget customers or re-petition undecided prospects.
Build a Digital Marketing Funnel that Drives Business
If your business doesn’t have the team or resources to develop a digital marketing funnel we’ve been assisting companies for nearly ten years. We possess expertise, in marketing, website design, branding, online advertising, animated graphics Google ad campaigns, social media promotion and graphic design. Book a consultation today. Schedule a call today.funnel,
